Reborn To Defy The Alpha-Chapter 81: A Changed Alpha

"I thought you didn’t like anyone other than your beta around when you’re using the gym." Eberhard’s tone came out tighter than intended, eyes narrowing as though trying to hold back the rest of what he wanted to say.

Ares didn’t bother hiding the scoff that burst out of him. "Why does it feel like I owe you an explanation for every single thing I choose to do? Do I not have the right to invite whoever I want into my own gym?"

Eberhard blinked hard. His jaw working soundlessly. His lips parted, but panic cut the sentence away before it formed. A breath hitched in his throat before he finally pushed out, "N-no. That’s... that isn’t what I meant."

Ares took a slow but deliberate step forward, that made Eberhard’s spine stiffened. "Then what do you mean?"

Eberhard’s thoughts stuttered. When had Ares started reacting like this? When did he become so... unpredictable?

His gaze flicked toward Rhea, did she do something? She was leaning back slightly, arms folded, a smirk curving her lips. She looked like she was enjoying every thing happening before her.

Heat flared in Eberhard’s chest. That smirk only made things worse.

Ares let out a tired exhale, shoulders rising and falling with the weight of his frustration. "What are you even doing here, Eberhard?"

Eberhard coughed lightly, trying to gather the pieces of his composure. "I came to ask why you didn’t tell me about the Convergence ceremony. Something so significant happening in our pack, and I had to hear it from others whispering about it."

Ares stared at him like he had just spoken an entirely different language. "I do not understand what you are talking about."

"That you would announce such a thing at dinner without informing me first," Eberhard said, voice rising in disbelief. "I could not believe it."

Ares blinked. Then blinked again, slower this time. Informing him first? Since when was that a rule?

The realization left a bitter taste in his mouth. Suddenly Rhea’s constant mocking made a painful kind of sense. Ellie’s annoyed grumbles also clicked into place. Had he let this dependency become so visible? Had he been moving like a puppet...and Eberhard holding the strings?

Blinding humiliation curled in his stomach.

Eberhard, absolutely unaware he’d just pulled a pin from a grenade, took a step closer. "It is unlike you to take such a major decision without consulting me. I promised your father I would always be here for you. But you doing something like this without me..." His voice lowered, almost wounded. "It makes it seem like I am no longer needed."

That struck deep, too deep. Ares’ frown sharpened. How long had he allowed Eberhard to speak as though he were the true power in the pack? As though Ares were the one who needed guidance, permission... leadership?

Eberhard pressed on, desperate to put this moment back into his control. "If this is about Nikki’s foolish overstep, I have already punished her. She will not dare to act up again. Just, do not shut me out. Do you not trust me anymore?"

Ares lifted a hand, palm out. "Stop." His voice carried authority that made Ellie straighten. "First of all, this has nothing to do with trust. I do not even understand why you are twisting it into that. Second, you were not at dinner. That was when I chose to make the announcement. If you had been there, you would have known the same time everyone else did."

"But that’s the problem," Eberhard insisted.

"How?" Ares’ brows shot up. "How is it a problem?"

Eberhard’s fists curled tight. "You should have informed me before making the announcement."

Ares couldn’t believe his ears

He stepped in, the distance between them evaporating. "Who is the Alpha here, Eberhard?" The air thickened, pressure pushing outward from Ares like invisible heat rolling off a wildfire.

His pheromones surged, deliberate and controlled, honing in on the one man who seemed to have forgotten his place.

Eberhard’s knees almost gave out under the weight of it. His breath stuttered, chest rising too fast, too rough. Shock and confusion clashed in his eyes. Ares had never turned his dominance on him before. And the shift felt irreversible.

Something in Ares had fundamentally changed. Eberhard could not tell if the feeling twisting in his gut was resentment... or fear.

"My words may have come out wrong," Eberhard finally managed, voice strained as he scrambled for the familiar ground between them. "I am only looking out for you, as I promised your father. It pains me to see you making choices that could expose you to danger... or make others question your capability."

Ellie muttered from the bench, "Oh, he did not just say that."

Rhea took a slow sip from the bottle, lips curving with amusement. "Oh, he just did," she murmured. Heat fluttered in her stomach. There was something dangerously attractive about Ares like this.

Ellie glanced at her, eyebrows raised in a silent "seriously?" that only made her smirk harder.

Ares advanced, step by unrelenting step, until he stood only inches from Eberhard. His pheromone output spiked like a thunderstorm crashing into the room. Eberhard’s legs trembled. His breath faltered, every inhale thin and desperate.

"How exactly," Ares asked, voice like a blade scraping stone, "would my choices expose me to danger... or make others question my capability? Are you saying I am not fit to be Alpha?"

Eberhard strained to respond, neck shaking with effort. "N-no. You misinterpret. I... I am only looking out for you."

"The only thing I see," Ares countered, eyes dark with challenge, "is you questioning my capability."

Eberhard’s head jerked side to side, trying to deny it, but his airway was collapsing under the weight of Ares’s dominance. His palms pressed to his knees, breath coming out in broken gasps.

Rhea pushed herself upright with a frown. "Okay, wow. Chill. You are about to straight up murder him without even lifting a finger."

Ares blinked, like he was seeing the moment through her eyes for the first time. The pressure around them snapped away. Air rushed back into Eberhard’s lungs, and he collapsed into a mess of coughing and wheezing, struggling to stand upright again.

He stared at Ares, confusion and disbelief tangled in his expression.

"Get out of my sight," Ares ordered, voice calm now, almost cold. "I have training to do." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Eberhard hesitated, gave Rhea one last lingering look, then turned and limped out of the gym.

The second the door shut, Rhea practically bounced on her toes. "That was hot," she said, pointing a finger at Ares like she had just discovered a new superpower. "You were choking him. Without even touching him. That was your pheromones, right? Oh my goodness, you have to teach me that!" She started dramatically imitating Eberhard’s coughing fit, bent over and wheezing like she was dying , way too enthusiastic about it.

Ares fought the urge to smile. Any other Omega would be cowering away from him right now, terrified of seeing the Alpha in him but here she was... celebrating it like it was the coolest thing she had ever witnessed.

"Smile if you want to," Ellie suddenly muttered beside him, voice low. He nudged Ares with his elbow. "You finally looked like a real Alpha."

Ares shot him a sharp glare. "Are you saying I was not a real Alpha before?"

Rhea cut in before Ellie could dig himself deeper. "You used to be a puppy," she said bluntly. "Keep this up and I might actually start respecting you."

Ares blinked at her, insulted and flustered in equal measure.

"So," she continued, rolling her shoulders and flashing a playful grin, "can we get back to training?" She winked.

Ares’s ears flushed red and Ellie let out a low whistle.

*******

Eberhard staggered several feet down the hallway, sweat clinging to his temples. His chest still ached from the suffocating pressure, each inhale scraping raw down his throat. He braced a hand against the wall, trying to steady his legs. The humiliation burned hotter than the oxygen deprivation.

He stopped.

Slowly, his head turned back toward the gym door, eyes narrowed in ugly glinted.

What happened to Ares? What has gotten into him? His mind churned, fury twisting through every vein. All of this started the moment that bitch suddenly changed. That girl. That traitor. That... nobody.

And now Ares was changing too. Too fast. Too drastically. An Alpha who once needed his guidance now dared to snap at him. Ignore him. Overpower him. Defy him.

All because of her.

His jaw clenched so tight his teeth ached.

"So that is how he wants to play," he muttered under his breath. He forgets that the only reason he is alive and not in the ground beside his parents is because I saw a use in him being alive. His fingers curled.

It appears he made a mistake.

He straightened. Rage sharpened into cold resolve. "I will go with plan B," he whispered. "If he wants to mess with me, then I will show him exactly who he is dealing with."

His eyes darkened as he pushed off the wall, steps quickening.

"I will go with their plan then," he hissed.